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6x5 VirtualBox

The simplest way to run multiple operating systems in one PC! Get started with VirtualBox straight away:

6 times 5 points:

5 things to know, 5 things to try, 5 things toread, 5 pages to bookmark, 5 people to follow on Twitter, 5 blogs to subscribe to. And 5 things about the author,

Alfonso Romero

VirtualBox is the simplest Open Source solution for running several operating systems on one PC at the same time. Thisfast-paced, easy-to-read ebook will show you how.

This simple ebook will show you:

•

A brief & quick introduction, in case you haven’t heard about virtualization and VirtualBox before

•

How you can run Linux, Windows, Open Solaris, Mac OSX, and several other operating systems on a single PC, without having toreboot your machine!

•

A step by step procedure to download & install VirtualBox on Windows XP, and then create a Linux Ubuntu virtual machine

•

How to install VirtualBox Guest Additions, to obtain a better integration between host and guest operating systems

5 Things to Know

1 Virtualization software lets you run two or more operating systems in one PC, at the same time!

Basically, it works like this: If you have a PC running a Windows, Linux, Mac or Solaris operating system, you can install VirtualBox andcreate one or more "virtual machines"; think of these as separate little PCs inside your main PC. Each virtual machine is called a "guest",and your main PC is called a "host". The bottom line is that you can run one "host" operating system, and several "guest" operatingsystems inside that "host"!

You’ll be surprised at how easy it is to install VirtualBox and create virtual machines. At the present time, you can run VirtualBox onWindows, Linux, Macintosh and Solaris hosts only, but there are plans to include other systems in a near future. Likewise, you can onlyrun Windows, Linux, Solaris and OpenBSD guests inside those hosts, but hey! Isn’t that enough for most of us? I mean, if you’ve alwayswanted to use Linux, but were afraid to make a double-boot configuration or mess up your main Windows XP system, you can useVirtualBox now!

2 You can’t run graphics-intensive games on virtualization software

Gamers beware: If you plan to run games like Age of Mythology, HALO and Age of Empires III on a Windows XP virtual machine, usingvirtualization software like VirtualBox is not the right choice. Most of the time, games need direct access to your video hardware. There aresome games that do work, though, but it’s a trial and error process! At the present time, VirtualBox supports OpenGL acceleratedgraphics only. But with the new 3.0 beta version of VirtualBox now available, I think I’ll have to delete this section from the e-book verysoon!

3 With virtualization, you can optimize your resources

VirtualBox is an excellent tool for software developers who need to test their products on different operating systems, or companies whowant to take full advantage of their hardware investment, like using a powerful PC to host two or three completely independent servers,for example. You can even run a headless server (a computer without a monitor, keyboard or mouse) with the VirtualBox Remote DesktopProtocol (VRDP)!

4 Use snapshots to protect your data and experiment with new operating systems

In VirtualBox, you can use snapshots of your virtual machines. That means you can save the state of your virtual machine beforeexperimenting and then, if you accidentally lose data due to a virus, malfunctioning software or any other reason, you can revert back toyour machine’s saved state, without having to format your hdd and reinstall your operating system again!

5 Import/Export virtual machines to other PCs

With the Open Virtualization Format (OVF), you can import/export virtual machines, known as

virtual appliances

. You can export aUbuntu Linux virtual machine created in a Macintosh host, for example, and import it in a Windows XP host! Or you can export a WindowsXP virtual machine created in a Macintosh host, and import it in a Ubuntu Linux host! You can even export a virtual machine and import itin several PCs, so that all your employees have the same configuration they need to do their work, and if for some reason they need toreinstall software, you just need to import the virtual machine again, and your employees can get back to work almost instantly! But besure to backup all the important data, first!

5 Things to Try

Now that you know some of the basics about VirtualBox and what you can do with it, I’ll show you how to install it on a Windowsenvironment and run a Ubuntu Linux virtual machine.

1 Downloading & Installing VirtualBox

This is as easy as going to McDonalds and asking for a Happy Meal! Just go to the VirtualBox Web site, click on the download section andstart downloading it!

Ingredients

You need a Web browser and access to the Internet.

Steps

1.Go to thehttp://www.virtualbox.orgWeb site.2.Click on the

Downloads

section in the left menu bar.3.Click on thehttp://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/2.2.4/VirtualBox-2.2.4-47978-Win.exelink to start downloading it.4.Double-click on the file you downloaded, to start the

VirtualBox Setup Wizard

. The

Welcome to the

Sun xVM VirtualBoxSetup Wizard

dialog will show up. Click on

, accept the license agreement, and keep clicking on

until the

Warning:Network Interfaces

dialog shows up. Click on

Yes

to proceed with the installation, and then click on

Install

to begin theinstallation process.5.Wait until the

VirtualBox Wizard

finishes the installing process, and then click on the

Finish

button. If you leave the

Start SunxVM VirtualBox after installation

box selected, VirtualBox will start automatically.

Tips

•

You can start reading the user manual, selecting

Contents...

from the

Help

menu.

•

If you have a fast Internet connection speed, you can try downloading several Linux distributions, OpenSolaris or OpenBSD, andcreate several virtual machines. Depending on your hardware capacity, you could have one, two or more virtual machines runningat the same time!

Warnings

•

Using virtualization software like VirtualBox can become a very addictive activity! You’ll start feeling like a powerful superior entitywith immediate access to multiple operating systems at the same time, and then you’ll want to try out all the available guestoperating systems, so be sure to have a lot of time available!